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The Women at the Tomb
1 AND when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalen, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, bought sweet spices, that coming, they might anoint Jesus. 2 And very early in the morning, the first day of the week, they come to the sepulchre, the sun being now risen. 3 And they said one to another: Who shall roll us back the stone from the door of the sepulchre? 4 And looking, they saw the stone rolled back. For it was very great. 5 And entering into the sepulchre, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed with a white robe: and they were astonished. 6 Who saith to them: Be not affrighted; you seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified: he is risen, he is not here, behold the place where they laid him. 7 But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he goeth before you into Galilee; there you shall see him, as he told you. 8 But they going out, fled from the sepulchre. For a trembling and fear had seized them: and they said nothing to any man; for they were afraid. Jesus Appears to the Women
9 But he rising early the first day of the week, appeared first to Mary Magdalen, out of whom he had cast seven devils. 10 She went and told them that had been with him, who were mourning and weeping. 11 And they hearing that he was alive, and had been seen by her, did not believe. Jesus Appears to Two on the Way to Emmaus
(Mark 16:12-13 Luke 24:13-35) 12 And after that he appeared in another shape to two of them walking, as they were going into the country. 13 And they going told it to the rest: neither did they believe them. Jesus Appears to the Eleven While They Sit at Table
(Mark 16:14-18) 14 At length he appeared to the eleven as they were at table: and he upbraided them with their incredulity and hardness of heart, because they did not believe them who had seen him after he was risen again. Jesus' Last Words and Ascension
(Mark 16:15, 19 Luke 24:44-53)
The Great Commission
(Mark 16:15-18 Matt 28:19-20) 15 And he said to them: Go ye into the whole world, and preach the gospel to every creature. 16 He that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved: but he that believeth not shall be condemned. 17 And these signs shall follow them that believe: In my name they shall cast out devils: they shall speak with new tongues. 18 They shall take up serpents; and if they shall drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them: they shall lay their hands upon the sick, and they shall recover. 19 And the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God. 20 But they going forth preached every where: the Lord working withal, and confirming the word with signs that followed. Gospel Harmony on Mark 16
The Women at the Tomb
(Mark 16:1-8 Matt 28:1-8 Luke 24:1-12 John 20:1-13) In the evening of the Sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, etc. (Mt 28:1) How could it be called evening if day was dawning, or even if, as St. Mark says, the sun were risen? (Mark 16:2) Firstly, St. Jerome answers that these women had gone forth frequently to the sepulchre, both in the evening and in the morning, so that the Evangelists refer to different occasions of their going forth. Secondly, St. Ambrose thinks that they were different women who went out in the evening and in the morning. So St. Gregory of Nyssa (Orat. 2, on the Resurrection) thinks that the women went four times to the sepulchre. But it is clear to any one who compares the different accounts, that the Evangelists speak of the same visit made by the same women to the sepulchre of Christ. I say, therefore, that by the evening of the Sabbath is signified the night which followed the Sabbath. That it was so clear, first, from St. Mark, who says, and when the Sabbath was passed; (Mark 16:1) secondly, because St. Matthew is wont to sum up many things in a few words. Accordingly, he here sums up the time when the women came together and made preparations for visiting and anointing Christ, which was in the evening, or immediately the Sabbath was passed; and he also wished to indicate the time when they came to the sepulchre, which was at the dawn of the Lord’s day. For this is what St. Luke says (Luke 23:56), “And they returned (after Christ had been buried), and prepared spices and ointments, and rested on the Sabbath day, according to the commandment; and on the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came to the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared.” And St. Mark (Mark 16:1) says, “When the Sabbath was passed, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, bought spices, that they might come and anoint Jesus. And very early in the morning on the first day of the week, they came to the sepulchre.” Mark is generally the interpreter of Matthew. St. Augustine says, “Thus, on the evening of the Sabbath is just the same as if he had said on the night of the Sabbath, that is, the night which follows the day of the Sabbath, which is sufficiently proved by the words which follow, as it began to dawn towards the first day of the week.” This could not be if we understood only the first portion of the night, its beginning, to be signified by the word evening. For the evening, or beginning of the night, does not begin to dawn towards the first day of the week, but only the night which is concluded by the dawn. For the end of the first part of the night is the beginning of the second; and the dawn is the end of the whole night. Whence the evening could not be said to dawn towards the first day of the week, unless by the word evening the night itself is understood, which is concluded by the dawn. Matthew, therefore, declares that these women had prepared ointments at night, but came to the sepulchre at the rising of the dawn, as Luke, John, and Mark say. But John adds that they came early in the morning, while it was yet dark. (Jn 20:1) I answer, That also is true, because it was dawn, since the sun not having yet appeared, but only his rays reflected from the hills or clouds, there still remained a measure of darkness in the air. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary. (Mt 28:1) That is, the wife of Cleophas and mother of James. These were the leaders and standard-bearers of the rest who were wont to follow Christ; for that there were several others is clear from Luke 23:55, where, among others, he names Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod’s steward: and Mark adds Salome. (Mark 16:1) The Blessed Virgin Mother of God did not come with them, because she certainly knew and expected that Christ would rise on that same day; whence she knew that the anointing would be useless. You will say, How do Matthew and Mark say that the angel sat, (Mt 28:5 Mark 16:5) when Luke says that he stood? (Luke 24:4) I answer, that by a Hebraism, to stand is a term applicable to any position; for it only signifies that a thing is present, whether standing upright, or sitting, or lying. Then, also, the account given by Matthew and Mark is a different one from that given by Luke, as I shall presently show. You will say, secondly, How does Matthew say that the angel sat upon the stone rolled back, that is, outside the sepulchre, (28:2) when Mark says that the women saw the angel not outside,(Mark 16:5) but on entering into the tomb? I answer, that the angel first removed the stone which closed the sepulchre, and then terrified the watch who were outside, and drove them away, so that they might not hinder the women from approaching the sepulchre; then, that he entered the sepulchre itself, and was there seen by the women, that he might show them the empty sepulchre, and that Christ had risen. Whence he says, “He is risen, as He said; come, see the place where the Lord lay.” (Mt 28:6 Mark 16:6) So Theophylact. Or, rather, the angel of whom Matthew speaks was a different one from that of whom Mark speaks. So Barradius. But I maintain that the same angel is spoken of by Mark as by Matthew. For Mark is generally the interpreter of Matthew. Wherefore, what Mark says about their entering into the tomb is to be understand thus, when they were preparing or beginning to enter the tomb; for they had not yet entered it, but were still outside, and there they saw and heard the angel, as Matthew has it. For to enter signifies, here and elsewhere, an act begun and not finished. And the angel answered, &c. (Mt 28:5) You will say, How is it that Matthew and Mark speak only of one angel as seen by the women, when Luke affirms that two were seen, who comforted the women with different words from those which Matthew and Mark have? I answer that the account of Luke (24:4) is different from that of Matthew, and that he relates what happened later, as I shall hereafter show. The women. Namely, the Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, Joanna, and the rest (see Luke 24:10). Those are mistaken, therefore, who think that Magdalene, after she had seen the empty sepulchre, immediately ran back to tell the Apostles, without seeing the angels, and that they were only seen by Mary the mother of James and the rest. John, therefore (Jn 20:1), while he mentions Magdalene only, with her understands all the rest of her companions; for she was the leader and chief of them all. In the historical order of the events must be brought in here what Luke mentions (24:3), namely, that Magdalene and her companions, while at the invitation of the angel they had entered the sepulchre and seen that it was empty, yet were affrighted; on account of which the angels cheered them, and at the same time gently reproved their want of faith. For that Luke’s account is not the same as that of Matthew and Mark, as some think, is clear from the words themselves, which are evidently different. Also, from the circumstance that in Luke two angels are said to have appeared, while in Matthew and Mark only one is mentioned. Tell His disciples. (Mt 28:7) Matthew does not mention what they told; but John and Luke explain it, but in different ways. For John says that Magdalene only said to Peter,(Jn 20:2) They have taken away my Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid Him. But Luke says that they related to the Apostles all the things they had seen and heard. (Luke 24:10) You will say, Whence this difference? I answer, It arises from the women being possessed with fear and doubt, and therefore they told no one anything by the way. And because they did not firmly and certainly believe that Christ had risen, they spoke alternating words, in accordance with the alternations of their thoughts; for at one time they speak of the vision of angels, at another they declare their opinion that the body of the Lord had been taken away. At this point we must bring into the history what S. John relates (Jn 20:2-19). Magdalene, then, was the first to see Christ, as Mark says. Afterwards, at the command of Christ, she hastened after the other women, and overtook them, and then with them again saw Christ, and heard His salutation. So St. Chrysostom, St. Jerome, and others. (Cornelius a Lapide) Jesus Appears to the Women
(Mark 16:9-11 Matt 28:9-10 Luke 24:10-11 John 20:14-18) At this point we next take up what Matthew has recorded in the following passage: “Behold, Jesus met them, saying, All hail! And they came and held Him by the feet, and worshipped Him.”(Mt 28:9) For thus we gather that, on coming to the sepulchre, they were twice addressed by the angels; and, again, that they were also twice addressed by the Lord Himself, namely, at the point at which Mary took Him to be the gardener, and a second time at present, when He meets them on the way, with a view to strengthen them by such a repetition, and to bring them out of their state of fear. “Then, accordingly, said He unto them, Be not afraid: go, tell my brethren that they go into Galilee, and there shall they see me.”(Mt 28:10) “Then came Mary Magdalene, and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that He had spoken these things unto her;”(Jn 20:18) —not herself alone, however, but with her also those other women to whom Luke alludes when he says, “Which told these things unto the eleven disciples, and all the rest. And their words seemed to them like madness, and they believed them not.”(Luke 24:10-11) Mark also attests these facts; for, after telling us how the women went out from the sepulchre, trembling and amazed, and said nothing to any man, he subjoins the statement, that the Lord rose early the first day of the week, and appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom He had cast seven devils, and that she went and told them who had been with Him, as they mourned and wept, and that they, when they heard that He was alive, and had been seen of her, believed not.(Mark 16:9-20) It is further to be observed, that Matthew has also introduced a notice to the effect that, as the women who had seen and heard all these things were going away, there came likewise into the city some of the guards who had been lying like dead men, and that these persons reported to the chief priests all the things that were done, that is to say, those of them which they were themselves also in a position to observe. He tells us, moreover, that when they were assembled with the elders and had taken counsel, they gave large money unto the soldiers, and bade them say that His disciples came and stole Him away while they slept, promising at the same time to secure them against the governor, who had given those guards. Finally, he adds that they took the money, and did as they had been taught, and that this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day.(Mt 28:11-25) (St. Augustine Harmony of the Gospels 3.24) |
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